Sahitya-kaumudi by Baladeva Vidyabhushana

by Gaurapada Dāsa | 2015 | 234,703 words

Baladeva Vidyabhusana’s Sahitya-kaumudi covers all aspects of poetical theory except the topic of dramaturgy. All the definitions of poetical concepts are taken from Mammata’s Kavya-prakasha, the most authoritative work on Sanskrit poetical rhetoric. Baladeva Vidyabhushana added the eleventh chapter, where he expounds additional ornaments from Visv...

मानं मा कुरु वामोरु ज्ञात्वा यौवनम् अस्थिरम्. अत्र यौवनास्थैर्य-विज्ञापनं शृङ्गार-प्रतिकूलस्य शान्तस्य विभावः, तत्-प्रकाशितो निर्वेदश् च व्यभिचारी.

mānaṃ mā kuru vāmoru jñātvā yauvanam asthiram. atra yauvanāsthairya-vijñāpanaṃ śṛṅgāra-pratikūlasya śāntasya vibhāvaḥ, tat-prakāśito nirvedaś ca vyabhicārī.

(6) [This is an example of pratikūla-vibhāva-graha (taking an adverse vibhāva):] “Girl with charming thighs, do not be in a pique, knowing that youth does not last long” (Sāhitya-darpaṇa 7.15). Reminding her about the nondurability of youth is a vibhāva (uddīpana) of śānta, a rasa which is adverse to śṛṅgāra. In addition, the vyabhicāri-bhāva called nirveda (indifference toward material life) becomes apparent because of that nondurability (this is an example of pratikūla-vyabhicāri-graha, included in the term pratikūla-vibhāvādi-graha, 7.137).

Commentary:

This is Mammaṭa’s example:

prasāde vartasva prakaṭaya mudaṃ santyaja ruṣaṃ
  priye śuṣyanty aṅgāny amṛtam iva te siñcati vacaḥ
|
nidhānaṃ saukhyānāṃ kṣaṇam abhimukhaṃ sthāpaya mukhaṃ
  na mugdhe pratyetuṃ prabhavati gataḥ kāla-hariṇaḥ
||

“Have a pleasant disposition: Be joyful, and give up your anger: My limbs are withered. Sprinkle them with your nectar-like speech.[1] Put your face, a fount of felicity, in front of me for a jiffy. Innocent girl, once gone the deer of time does not return” (cited in Śārṅgadhara-paddhati)

Mammaṭa elaborates:

atra śṛṅgāre pratikūlasya śāntasyānityatā-prakāśana-rūpo vibhāvas tat-prakāśito nirvedaś ca vyabhicārī upāttaḥ,

“Here a vibhāva, in the form of bringing to light the transitoriness of life, is a vibhāva of śānta, a rasa which is adverse to śṛṅgāra. Additionally, the vyabhicāri-bhāva called nirveda, brought to light by that transitoriness, is obtained” (Kāvya-prakāśa, verse 327 vṛtti).

Mammaṭa shows a different kind of example:

nibhṛta-ramaṇe locana-pathe patite gurūṇāṃ madhye |
sakala-parihāra-hṛdayā vana-gamanam evecchati vadhūḥ ||

“The young woman was in the midst of her elders. The path of her eyes fell on her lover. He was free. She mentally gave up everything. She only wanted to go to the forest” (Kāvya-prakāśa, verse 328).

Mammaṭa explains:

atra sakala-parihāra-vana-gamane śāntānubhāvau. indhanādy-ānayana-vyājenopabhogārthaṃ vana-gamanaṃ cet na doṣaḥ,

Giving up everything and going to the forest are two anubhāvas of śānta-rasa. However, there is no fault if going to the forest is for the sake of enjoyment and is said with the pretext of fetching wood for fuel, and so on (picking flowers, etc.)” (Kāvya-prakāśa, verse 328).

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

This is the fault called viruddha-mati-kṛt (it causes a contradictory thought) (7.21): It’s as if he means to say that she spits when she talks.

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